Then-Petty Officer 3rd Class Joshua Kelley performs during a Morale, Welfare and Recreation lip sync battle aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, Nov. 29, 2017. (Charles Scudella III/U.S. Navy)
A conservative legal organization is demanding top U.S. Navy officials investigate an active-duty sailor and drag queen whom the service used as a “digital ambassador.”
In a Monday letter to Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro and other senior administrators, the nonprofit America First Legal alleged misconduct by Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Kelley that included inappropriate political activity, contempt toward superiors and misuse of a service member’s uniform.
Kelley, who performs as a drag queen with the stage name Harpy Daniels, was one of five members of the Navy’s Digital Ambassador Pilot Program, a recruitment effort between October and March.
The letter alleged that Kelley, who identifies as non-binary and is a self-described advocate for the military’s LGBTQ+ community, routinely “engaged in partisan activity, behaved in ways that discredit the military, publicly criticized his command, and misused his uniform for personal gain” through social media.
“In order to preserve the Navy’s reputation, swift action must be taken to restore good order and discipline and to prevent further partisan activity that implies Navy endorsement of particular candidates and causes,” Jacob Meckler, the group’s legal adviser, said in a Monday news release.
America First Legal, based in Washington, D.C., is led by former Trump administration officials, including Stephen Miller, a former senior adviser to President Donald Trump, and Gene Hamilton, counselor to the U.S. Attorney General from 2017 to 2021, according to the group’s website.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, shown here in June 2020, joined the Navy in 2016. (Stacia Courtney/U.S. Navy)
The organization did not immediately respond to an email seeking further comment early Tuesday. Kelley, whose social media profiles are set to private, did not respond to a request for comment via Facebook.
The letter included screenshots of Kelley’s “Harpy Daniels” social media pages and alleged that the sailor posted sexually explicit material, politically charged posts and statements of contempt for his superiors.
The group alleges that Kelley tweeted in June 2019 that “All of 7th Fleet is lazy,” according to the letter. Naval Forces Japan on Tuesday confirmed Kelley was previously assigned to 7th Fleet.
The following year, according to America First Legal, Kelley accused then-President Trump of being a white supremacist and asked his followers to vote for Democratic candidates.
Stars and Stripes could not verify those posts.
Naval Forces Japan spokeswoman Cmdr. Katie Cerezo referred all questions to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Navy Office of Information, neither of which immediately responded to requests for comment early Tuesday.
Kelley came under fire last month when 14 Republican senators wrote to Del Toro highlighting Kelley’s use of TikTok, which was banned on Defense Department devices last year, and questioned whether the Navy should promote “influencers who post behaviors or activities many Americans deem inappropriate,” according to their May 3 letter.
The Pentagon came under fire earlier this year from conservative lawmakers who criticized drag shows on military bases. The Biden administration on June 1 — the start of Pride month — banned the shows on U.S. bases, resulting in event cancellations.
